Egyptian Tahrir: A Square that will Never Die, no Matter What

A Square that will Never Die, no Matter What
In an analogy to French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes’, “The Death of the Author” Egypt celebrates\mourns its revolution. Barthes argues against traditional literary criticism’s practice of incorporating the intentions and biographical context of an author in an interpretation of a text, and instead argues that writing and creator are unrelated.
Likewise, in Egypt these days, everything that is related to the 25th of January revolution is sentenced to death, it seemed to be unrelated and unnecessary to be included with the anti-revolution and the supporters of the military coup. It looks like everything that has been achieved by the revolution is being erased, undone and irrelevant.
Apart from any political argument, which I am trying to avoid for quite some time, I am speaking about the social and human aspects of the core values of the Egyptians. things that seam now like remnants of the old days, values like; respecting the others, respecting people’s sadness and mourning, caring/helping for one another, honor girls and women, respecting the elderly and a long list of many other values that used to be essential to the Egyptian personality.
I don’t see that now on the streets of Egypt or on TV screens. The country I am seeing is alien to the one I grew up at. We used to be banned from watching TV, listen to radio in respect to the passing away of someone in the building. One of my childhood’s miserable memories were having not to follow my favorite TV shows and soap opera because of the death of Christian neighbor’s son, we (the children) were told that we especially because they are Christians and the only ones in the building we have to show extra respect, so that they will not feet isolated or singled out. ” Be good to your neighbor” is probably the first prophetic practice I learnt and may be the most used in our home.
This is the Egypt I knew\know, even in an elite Cairian suburb like Heliopolis, where I was raised, such hard core values of the Egyptian village were very much alive, and we used to think that they are simply summaries what does it mean to be an Egyptian. Now to see people dancing in Tahrir square while tens if not hundreds of other Egyptians are being killed in the streets, jailed and injured this is very foreign to our ethics and beliefs. To see a man, whatever his political connections are, beating or snatching a girl or a woman, it really hits me and makes me question everything I know about the people I am proud to belong to. Egyptians are generally known to be religious, Muslims or Christians alike, each in his own way but they share their faith in Allah, and the strong adherence to their social values and traditions.
Again, how did that happen? How we left our political differences feed on our values? These are some major questions that I can’t answer. They need extensive research from social scientists. Is the Egyptian revolution eroding like their social strength and fabric? That is a question I can answer, my answer is simply NO. I can still hear the Abo Al Qasim al Shabi’s ” the ” people’s well” ringing in my ears and telling me the Egyptina’s well and their crave to freedom will never die.
With all due respect to Barthes’ theory, the author of the Egyptian revolution, the people did not die after they finished writing it. They continued to live and it continues to derive its strength from their strong well and spirit. Things may have gotten out of control in places like Tahrir square, they may give the wrong impression that the revolution itself is dying but I refuse to accept this negative image about one of the greatest revolutions in history and about the people who built one of the world’s oldest and most advanced civilizations.